If you have looked at Council's 2018-19 calendar, you may have noticed that we have included information about awareness months throughout the year. We hope that these may be helpful for you as you think about advocacy, meeting or parent education topics and more!

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month, working to raise awareness about the learning disorder that involves difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters and other symbols. In Washington state, nearly 1 in 5 students, or about 20% of the population, is impacted by by language-based learning disorders such as dyslexia.

Last year, the Washington State Legislature passed SB 6162, defining dyslexia and mandating development and implementation of screening processes and appropriate interventions in schools over the next few years.

Washington State PTA Resolution 18.32 supports early screening for signs and symptoms of language processing disorders including but not limited to dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, with parental notification; and supports legislation for funding to support training of parents, teachers and other school personnel in early identification of language processing disorders and use of evidence based programs that provide explicit instruction including Multi-sensory Structured Language Teaching, with appropriate accommodations to provide students with equitable access to the general education curriculum.